YOUR  oWf^ 

ST.  JOSEPH 

-  "',v  '•  -wif*?/ 


BY  THE 

REV.  JOSEPH  HUSSLEIN,  ,S.  J. 

Associate  Editor  of  “Ameiyjca^ 

The  America  Press 

NEW  YORK.  N.  Y. 


CONTENTS 

I.  OUR  GLORIOUS  ST.  JOSEPH 

II.  THE  SAINT  OF  THE  INCARNATION 

III.  PREFIGURED  IN  THE  OLD  LAW. 

IV.  WHY  WE  LOVE  ST.  JOSEPH 

V.  THE  POWER  OF  ST.  JOSEPH 


Price  10  cents.  Second  Edition. 


Nihil  Obstat 


Arthur  J.  Scanlan,  S.T.D., 

Censor  Librorum 


Imprimatur 


^  Patrick  Cardinal  Hayes, 

Archiepiscopus  Nco.  Eb. 

, 


New  York,  January  8,  1925 


Copyright  1925 


0 


OUR  GLORIOUS  ST.  JOSEPH 

Saints  know  thee  best,  oh  hidden ,  silent  Saint! 

And  would  that  I  could  feel  a  little  part 
Of  that  great  love  Teresa's  kindred  heart 
Felt  for  thee  Foster-father ! — Matthew  Russell,  S.  J. 

We  often  hear  it  said  that  little  is  known  about  St. 
Joseph.  True  as  that  statement  may  appear  we  shall  find, 
upon  closer  study  of  the  Scriptures,  that  in  the  little  known 
to  us  very  much  is  contained.  The  saints  and  the  simple 
of  heart  can  understand  St.  Joseph.  And  who,  among  all 
the  servants  of  God,  after ,  our  own  Blessed  Mother,  is 
more  familiar  to  the  Faithful  throughout  the  world  than 
Joseph,  her  pure  Spouse,  the  Foster-father  of  the  world's 
Redeemer  ? 

The  life  of  St.  Joseph  was  made  known  to  us,  purely 
and  entirely,  under  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
Our  only  source  of  information  is  the  infallible  Scripture. 
Here  we  behold  the  Saint  in  all  his  simplicity  and  greatness:, 
a  man  equally  humble  and  exalted,  gentle  and  strong,  hid^ 
den  and  glorious. 

The  Scripture  words  that  speak  of  Joseph  are  like  the 
ocean  in  depth  and  like  the  firmament  that  still  recedes  be¬ 
yond  our  ken.  The  more  we  search,  the  more  we  find. 

There  are  “apocryphal”  writings  also  that  deal  with  the 
life  of  St.  Joseph,  but  the  Church  has  never  accepted  them. 
Some  of  the  statements  contained  in  these  may  be  based 
upon  tradition,  but  no  reliance  can  be  placed  on  their 
historic  truth.  Considered  as  religious  documents  they  are 
void  of  authority,  and  often,  as  St.  Jerome  says,  the 
merest  dreams.  Some,  however,  stripped  of  their  exagger¬ 
ations,  are  not  without  a  legendary  beauty.  Such  is  the 
familiar  story  of  the  flowering  rod  of  St.  Joseph. 

This  has  served  as  an  inspiration  for  some  of  the  world’s 
greatest  painters.  Eleanor  C.  Donnelly,  in  her  “Legend  of 
St.  Joseph’s  Staff,”  summons  up  a  picture  of  Our  Lady’s 
suitors  gathered  in  the  golden  porches  of  Judah’s  Temple. 


2 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


To  each  a  rod  is  given  by  the  silvery-haired  high  priest. 
“O  flower  of  God,  burst  from  his  rod,”  he  silently  prays, 
“who  Mary’s  spouse  shall  be!”  And  there,  at  his  word, 
the  dry  staff  in  Joseph’s  hand  begins  to  bui'geon  and  to 
bloom : 

Till  graceful,  bell-shaped  lilies, 

Strange  to  Jerusalem, 

Crown  with  their  clinging  clusters 
The  long  green  leafless  stem. 

Kneeling  the  youths  salute  it, 

The  token  sent  of  God, 

As  Israel’s  princes  yielded 
Homage  to  Aaron’s  rod. 

And  Mary,  veiled  and  trembling, 

Hears  through  the  silent  house : 

“Hail,  flowering  staff  of  Joseph; 

All  hail,  the  Virgin’s  Spouse!” 

Fra  Angelico,  Luini,  Raphael  and  many  other  artists 
depict  St.  Joseph  as  a  noble,  gracious  man,  in  the  full 
strength  of  manhood.  Such  we  know  he  must  have  been 
to  endure  the  labors  and  hardship  which  Providence  ' 
destined  him  to  endure  for  Mary  and  the  Divine  Child. 
The  false  conception  that  St.  Joseph  was  already  in  his 
declining  years  at  the  time  of  his  Espousals  has  been  traced 
back  to  “apocryphal”  sources. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  poetic  truth  in  the  blossom¬ 
ing  rod  of  Joseph.  Its  graceful  lilies,  white  as  virgin 
snow,  have  become  for  us  an  exquisite  symbol  of  Joseph’s 
inviolate  chastity;  while  the  miracle,  conceived  as  singling 
him  out  for  Mary’s  Spouse  from  among  all  the  noble 
suitors,  leaves  us  to  ponder  on  the  stupendous  choice  made 
by  Almighty  God  in  selecting  Joseph  to  entrust  to  him  the 
Incarnate  Word  and  Plis  immaculate  Virgin  Mother. 

Of  the  character  of  Joseph  we  know  that  he  was  a  “just 
man,”  and  thus  fit  to  be  the  Spouse  of  her  who  was  de¬ 
clared  by  the  Angel  “full  of  grace.”  To  be  just  implies 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEF®!'  -p 


a  complete  fulfilment  of  all  the  Divine  laws.  Abraham, 
it  has  been  said,  was  called  the  faithful ;  David,  the  pious ; 
Daniel,  the  wise;  Moses,  the  meekest  of  men;  but  Joseph 
combines  all  these  qualities  and  possesses  all  virtues  in 
their  perfection. 

The  same  title  that  is  applied  to  Joseph  is  used  also  in 
reference  to  Our  Divine  Lord.  He  is  called  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures :  “The  holy  one  and  the  just ,  the  author  of  life.’’ 
If  nothing  more  were  known  by  us  concerning  the  virtues 
of  St.  Joseph  than  that  canonization  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
“a  just  man,”  enough  would  therefore  have  been  told  us. 

Of  the  royal  ancestry  of  Joseph  we  are  informed  by 
the  words  of  the  Angel  who  solemnly  addresses  him : 
“Joseph,  son  of  David.”  To  Ezechiel,  fallen  upon  his 
face,  the  angelic  summons  was :  “Son  of  man,  stand  upon 
thy  feet,  and  I  will  speak  to  thee.”  To  St.  Peter  the 
Angel  simply  said:  “Arise  quickly.”  And  to  John  the  great 
voice  as  of  a  trumpet  shouted :  “What  thou  seest,  write  in 
a  book.”  Little  heed  does  the  Angel  give  to  name  or  title. 
But  not  so  in  the  case  of  Joseph,  for  he  is  addressed  by 
the  heavenly  messenger  as  a  prince  royal  of  the  people  of 
God,  with  the  noblest  title  that  any  man  then  living  could 
possibly  have  borne:  “Son  of  David.” 

Yet  it  was  not  the  royal  blood  in  Joseph’s  veins  that  the 
Angel  respected,  but  the  Divine  promise  of  the  Messias, 
which  as  the  Prophecies  made  clear,  was  connected  with 
the  royal  House  of  David.  Joseph  was  called  to  be  the 
witness  of  the  ultimate  fulfilment  of  that  promise.  He 
was  to  be  the  guardian  of  the  mysteries  contained  in  it. 
He  was  himself  to  stand  in  the  most  intimate  relation  to 
the  Saviour  that  would  be  born,  the  long  and  ardently 
desired  of  His  people  Israel. 

What  was  the  ancient  crown  of  Babylon,  the  royal  asp 
upon  the  forehead  of  a  Pharaoh,  the  golden  scepter  in  the 
hand  of  an  Augustus,  or  any  other  emblem  of  human 
sovereignty  and  power  compared  with  the  white  lily  of 
St.  Joseph,  the  emblem  of  his  virginal  espousal  to  Mary 
and  of  his  chaste  guardianship  of  Christ?  Long  ago  the 
Prophecy  had  predicted  that  the  Messias  should  not  come 
until  the  scepter  had  passed  from  Judah  and  there  would 


4 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


be  no  longer  a  ruler  of  David’s  line.  Only  then  was  He 
to  appear,  “that  is  to  be  sent,  and  he  shall  be  the  expecta¬ 
tion  of  the  nations.”  (Gen.  xlix.  10.)  Now,  therefore, 
when  the  glory  of  royalty  had  disappeared  the  prophecies 
were  at  last  to  be  fulfilled,  and  to  Joseph,  “Son  of  David,” 
would  be  born  by  Mary,  his  espoused  wife,  the  Saviour  of 
the  world,  conceived  by  her  most  purely  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
He  should  be  called,  as  the  angel  had  foretold :  “the  son 
of  the  Most  High,  and  the  Lord  God  shall  give  unto  him 
the  throne  of  David  his  father,  and  he  shall  reign  in  the 
house  of  Jacob  forever.  And  of  his  Kingdom  there  shall 
be  no  end.”  (Luke  i.  32,  33.) 

The  name  “Joseph”  itself— in  Hebrew  Yosef — is  inter¬ 
preted  to  mean  “may  God  add.”  The  idea  of  “Increase” 
is  intimately  connected  with  it.'  Thus  the  Egyptian  Joseph 
is  described  in  Holy  Scripture  as  a  fruitful  tree  that  grows 
by  a  fountain,  and  whose  branches — “daughters”  of  the 
parent  stem,  as  the  Hebrew  text  delightfully  calls  them — 
stretch  far  and  wide  over  the  garden  wall.  (Gen.  xlix.  22.) 

By  a  special  Providence,  then,  was  this  name  given  to 
him  who  was  to  be  the  husband  of  Mary  and  whose  vir¬ 
ginal  marriage  God  crowned  with  a  virginal  paternity,  as 
Foster-father  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  In  all  things 
Joseph  succeeded,  in  all  things  he  prospered,  not  in  amass¬ 
ing  the  treasures  of  earth,  but  the  graces  and  glories  of 
Heaven. 

Fourteen  times  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  he  'is  called  by 
his  name  of  “Joseph.”  Seven  times  the  name  is  mentioned 
by  St'.  Matthew,  five  times  by  St.  Luke,  and  twice  by  St 
John.  *  St.  Mark  begins  with  the  preaching  of  John  the 
Baptist,  and  so  at  once  proceeds  to  the  public  coming  of 
Our  Lord,  but  he  finds  occasion  to  point  to  Joseph  in  an 
allusion  to  Christ’s  lowly  upbringing  in  the  carpenter  shop 
of  Nazareth:  “Is  not  this  the  carpenter?” 

Here,  then,  is  another  detail  of  St.  Joseph’s  life  which 
the  sacred  writers  are  at  special  pains  to  record.  Joseph 
was  a  carpenter  and  in  that  same  trade  Christ  also  took 
part.  “Is  not  this  the  carpenter’s  son?”  the  town  folk  of 
Jesus  asked.  And  again  we  hear  them  say:  “Is  not  this  the 
carptener?”  The  Greek  text  leaves  no  doubt  that  such  is 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


5 


the  exact  translation.  The  Saviour  of  the  world,  we  know 
then,  was  reared  in  the  carpenter’s  home  and  played  in  the 
carpenter’s  shop,  where  in  maturer  years  he  partook  of 
the  carpenter’s  toil.  And  here,  too,  Mary  loved  and  labored 
at  the  side  of  these  two  beings  most  dear  to  her,  her 
virginal  spouse  and  the  Incarnate  God,  her  own  true  Son, 
who  in  his  sweet- and  winning  way  would  call  St.  Joseph, 
“Father !” 

'  .  '  ’  ;  .  .  ' 

And  the  Child  grew  in  wisdom’s  ken 

And  years  and  grace  with  God  and  men ; 

And  in  His  father’s  humble  art 
Took  share  and  part. 

“With  toil,”  saith  He,  “My  limbs  are  wet 
Prefiguring  the  Bloody  Sweat”  : 

Ah !  how  He  bears  our  chastisement 
With  sweet  content ! 

«■  -  .1 

At  Joseph’s  bench,  at  Jesus’  side, 

The  Mother  sits,  the  Virgin-Bride; 

Happy  if  she  may  cheer  their  hearts 
With  loving  arts. 

O  Blessed  Three !  who  felt  the  sting 
Of  want  and  toil  and  suffering, 

Pity  the  needy  and  obscure 
Lot  of  the  poor. 

Banish  the  “pride  of  life”  from  all 
Whom  ampler  wealth  and  joys  befall: 

Be  every  h^art  with  love  repaid 
That  seeks  your  aid. 

So  sang  Pope  Leo  XIII  of  that  sublimest  of  all  working¬ 
men’s  families,  where  by  the  labor  of  His  own  hands  the 
greatest  of  all  the  sons  of  David  ennobled  human  toil. 
Rejecting  Solomon’s  crown  and  scepter,  He  chose  instead, 
with  loving  predilection,  the  Carpenter  Joseph’s  humble 
tools:  saw  and  rule  and  hammer — fitting  well  into  His 
hands  who  was  the  Builder  of  the  universe. 


i 


II. 


THE  SAINT  OF  THE  INCARNATION 

•  * 

St.  Joseph,  it  has  been  truly  said,  belongs  to  the  Hier¬ 
archy  of  the  Incarnation.  With  Mary  he  is  drawn  closer 
than  any  other  creature  into  that  inner  circle  the  center  of 
which  is  the  God-Man.  Mary  and  Joseph  are  beautifully 
symbolized  by  the  two  golden  cherubim,  one  on  the  right 
and  the  other  on  the  left  of  the  Mercy  Seat  to  which  God 
descended  in  the  Old  Law.  The  wings  of  the  two  cherubim 
were  outstretched  over  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  and  they 
faced  one  towards  the  other,  and  both  towards  the  Oracle 
of  God  between  them.  So  by  Divine  predilection  were 
Mary  and  Joseph  chosen  to  be  most  intimately  devoted  to 
each  other  and  mutually  to  cherish  between  them  the  In¬ 
carnate  Word,  Emmanuel,  “God  with  us.” 

Neither  patriarch  nor  prophet,  neither  apostle  nor  martyr, 
not  even  the  Precursor  of  Christ  could  be  said  to  belong 
to  that  inmost  Holy  of  Holies  where  Mary  and  Joseph, 
higher  in  dignity  than  the  highest  cherubim,  humbly  wor¬ 
shipped  the  Divinity  that  dwelled  with  them  in  human 
form.  To  them  it  was  given  to  carry  in  their  arms  the 
God-Man,  to  nourish  and  clothe  Him,  to  protect  and  guard 
His  human  existence. 

But  together  they  approach  still  more  closely  the  mys¬ 
teries  of  the  Word-made-flesh.  While  Mary  is  the  Virginal 
Mother  of  Christ,  and  so  incomparably  above  all  other 
created  beings,  St.  Joseph  may  truly  be  described  as  the 
virginal  father.  It  is  by  the  Holy  Ghost  Himself  that 
Joseph  is  given  the  name  of  “father”  in  the  Sacred  Scrip¬ 
tures.  At  the  same  time  it  is  made  plain  beyond  all  doubt 
that  he  is  not  the  physical,  but  the  true  moral  father  of 
the  Saviour  as  he  was  his  legal  father  also  in  the  eyes  of 
the  law.  Only  when  the  Jews,  not  knowing  of  the  mystery 
of  the  Incarnation,  take  Joseph  for  the  natural  father  of 
Jesus,  is  the  qualification  added:  “being,  as  it  was  supposed, 
the  son  of  Joseph.”  Elsewhere  Mary  and  Joseph  are  simply 
described  as  the  “parents”  of  Jesus,  since  from  all  that  the 
Sacred  writers  have  previously  narrated  concerning  the 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


7 


virginal  conception  of  Christ  no  one  could  possibly  mis¬ 
understand  the  meaning  of  this  word  as  applied  to  Joseph. 

“Joseph,”  says  the  great  Jesuit  theologian  Suarez,  “is 
father  not  merely  in  name  but  in  reality,  since  he  possesses 
everything  belonging  to  fatherhood  that  man  can  possess 
without  violating  virginity.”  In  that  virginity  consists  the 
great  glory  of  Joseph’s  true  paternity. 

There  is  no  fatherhood  on  earth  to  compare  in  greatness, 
in  beauty*  in  dignity,  in  sanctity  with  that  of  St.  Joseph. 
The  Fathers  and  Doctors  of  the  Church,  with  profound  in¬ 
sight  into  the  works  of  God,  extol  in  highest  terms  this 
wonderful  paternity  of  Joseph.  Christ,  as  the  true  Child 
of  Mary  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  formed  by  God  alone  out  of 
her  immaculate  substance,  could  not  but  belong  to  Joseph, 
also,  because  virginally  given  to  him  within  the  bonds  of 
holy  wedlock.  Mary  and  Joseph  "belonged  no  longer  to 
themselves  but  to  each  other,  as  truest  husband  and  wife, 
and  so  Mary’s  Son  belonged  with  her  to  Joseph. 

Considering  merely  the  human  nature  of  Christ,  Joseph 
therefore  had  the  full  paternal  right  as  well  as  the  duty 
to  command,  care  for  and  protect  the  Divine  Child  en¬ 
trusted  to  him.  That  was  his  vocation.  His  fatherhood 
was  the  more  sublime  in  that  it  was  purely  virginal.  It 
differed  entirely,  as  St.  Augustine  is  so  careful  to  explain, 
from  any  mere  fatherhood  by  adoption  from  outside  the 
marriage  bond.  Joseph,  says  the  great  Doctor  of  the 
Church,  is  father  of  Jesus,  “in  the  same  way  that  he  is 
understood  to  be  husband  of  Mary,”  namely  virginally  and 
through  holy  marriage. 

This  may  enable  us  to  understand  something  at  least  of 
the  dignity  conferred  on  St.  Joseph,  the  full  greatness  of 
which  we  cannot  possibly  comprehend.  To  do  so  would 
imply  that  we  could  fully  comprehend  the  Eternal  God 
who  so  intimately  made  Himself  dependent  upon  St.  Jo¬ 
seph  in  the  human  nature  He  assumed.  More  intimate 
indeed  was  this  relation  than  we  have  yet  said,  and  more 
impossible  than  we  perhaps  have  ever  yet  conceived  will  it 
ever  be  for  us  to  pay  the  debt  we  owe  to  Joseph. 

St.  Joseph’s  marriage  with  Mary,  as  St.  Thomas  says, 
was  ordained  by  God  to  this  special  purpose,  that  the  Divine 


8 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


Child  might  be  begotten  and  reared  within  it.  According 
to  the  Divine  councils  the  Saviour  was  to  be  born  not 
merely  of  a  virgin,  but  of  an  espoused  virgin.  Now  by  Jo¬ 
seph’s  consent  did  both  these  conditions  come  to  pass.  Not 
only  did  he  give  his  hand  to  Mary,  but  he  freely  gave  her 
also  the  inviolate  gift  of  her  virginity,  and  this  he  did  by 
sacredly  pledging  his  own  virginal  chastity  to  her.  It  was 
God  who  had  inspired  this  vow  in  both  their  hearts.  So 
from  that  garden  enclosed,  that  fountain  sealed,  divinely 
entrusted  and  sacredly  belonging  to  Joseph,  the  mystery  of 
the  Incarnation  could  come  to  pass  according  to  all  the 
Divine  designs. 

Wonderful,  therefore,  and  most  intimate  was  Joseph’s 
relation  to  the  Divine  mystery  of  the  Incarnation,  but  un¬ 
speakable,  too,  were  the  sufferings  and  trials,  no  less  than 
the  joys  and  glories  it  was  to  bring  to  him.  By  the  martyr¬ 
dom  of  his  soul  he  was  to  participate  according  to  his  own 
measure  in  the  passion  of  the  Saviour. 

The  first  great  trial  came  to  him  in  Mary’s  regard,  be¬ 
fore  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  had  yet  been  revealed 
to  him  by  God’s  own  angel  messenger.  God  permitted  this 
suffering,  and  it  was  not  for  Mary,  greatly  though  her  own 
heart  bled,  to  reveal  without  Divine  sanction  the  secrets  of 
the  King.  But  out  of  the  darkness  of  this  trial,  exceeding 
all  martyrdoms  by  rack  and  rope,  there  shone  out  Joseph’s 
heroic  charity  for  Mary,  his  complete  unselfishness  and  the 
profoundest  respect  he  ever  entertained  for  even  the  least 
of  the  sanctities  of  the  law.  That  here  as  elsewhere  Jie 
showed  himself  “a  just  man,”  was  the  supreme  praise  given 
him  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

To  give  him  full  assurance  of  his  own  paternal  rights 
over  the  Divine  Child  that  should  be  born  to  him  by  Mary, 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  was  further  given  the  commission : 
“And  thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus.”  The  assigning  of  a 
name  among  the  Jews  was  a  strictly  parental  prerogative. 
The  same  words  had  already  been  spoken  to  Mary.  To 
both,  therefore,  now  belonged  the  full  parental  authority 
over  Jesus,  and  both  together  are  in  the  Scriptures  called 
the  “parents”  of  Jesus.  To  both  the  Divine  Saviour  gave 
His  complete  and  perfect  subjection — yet  first  of  all  to 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


9 


9 


Joseph,  who,  as  head  of  the  Holy  Family,  was  for  both 
Christ  and  Mary  the  “shadow  of  the  Eternal  Father,”  His 
visible  representative  on  earth. 

That  Joseph,  like  Mary,  practised  perpetual  virginity  no 
Catholic  would  doubt.  When  the  Sacred  Scriptures  refer 
to  the  “brothers”  and  “sisters”  of  Jesus  it  is  only  because 
the  Hebrew  idiom  includes  all  near  relatives  under  these 
terms.  In  fact,  there  is  no  Hebrew  word  to  express  the 
idea  of  “cousins.”  That  term  might  probably  have  ex¬ 
pressed  exactly  the  particular  sense  in  which  these  words 
are  meant  here.  The  keen  appreciation  of  tribal  connection, 
moreover,  made  it  natural  for  the  Jews  to  express  them¬ 
selves  in  such  a  way.  The  fact  indeed  that  Christ  com¬ 
mitted  his  mother  to  John  should  make  it  plain  that  with 
the  death  of  the  Saviour  she  was  now  left  alone,  although 
henceforth  she  would  be  the  Mother  of  all  the  Faithful, 
who  together  constitute  that  mystic  body  whereof  Christ  is 
the  Head. 

Important,  too,  is  the  part  St.  Joseph  plays  in  the  mys¬ 
tery  of  the  Nativity.  The  journey  with  Mary  to  Bethlehem, 
the  vain  search  for  an  inn  to  shelter  his  youthful  Virgin 
wife,  the  desolate  stable  at  last  chosen  by  him  as  the  night 
is  falling,  the  birth  there  of  the  Christ  Child,  and  finally 
the  first  sublime  adoration  at  the  Crib,  when  Mary  and 
Joseph  knelt  absorbed  in  profoundest  worship  of  that  Child 
who  was  their  very  God — these  are  scenes  we  have  often 
dwelled  upon  in  thoughts  too  deep  for  tears ! 

And  then  to  think  that  henceforth  this  Child  was  to  be 
all  their  own :  to  fondle,  care  for  and  to  nourish,  that  so, 
for  the  world’s  salvation,  He  might  be  sacrificed  at  last  on 
the  rough,  hard  wood  of  the  Cross — that  wood  harder  still 
than  the  bare  trough  of  the  manager  which  loving  hands 
gently  filled  for  Him  with  the  straw  of  the  stable! 

So  we  might  continue  with  mystery  after  mystery.  First 
there ‘would  pass  before  us  the  mystery  of  the  painful  Cir¬ 
cumcision  when  the  first  drops  of  Christ’s  blood  were  shed 
and,  together,  Joseph  and  Mary  gave  His  sacred  name  to 
the  Saviour  of  the  world,  “Jesus,”  that  name  at  whose 
mention  every  knee  must  bow  in  heaven,  on  earth  and  under 
the  earth.  Then  would  follow  the  solemn  Presentation  when 


10 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


Joseph  with  Mary  brought  their  Child  into  the  Temple  to 
offer  Him  to  the  Lord,  and  their  hearts  were  pierced, 
while  the  glory,  also,  of  the  Saviour  was  revealed  to  them. 
For  this  Child  was  to  be  for  the  fall  and  resurrection  of 
many.  It  was  there  that  Joseph  and  Mary  together  made 
to  God  the  oblation  of  the  Divine  Victim  of  Calvary,  and 
so  entered  into  closest  relation  with  the  great  work  of  man’s 
Redemption. 

Who  knows  what  depths  of  insight  into  Christ’s  sacred 
Passion  may  have  been  granted  Joseph  while  pondering 
over  the  prophecies  of  the  Messias,  and  how  close  he  may 
have  stood  to  the  Cross  of  Christ — closer  we  may  well 
believe  than  any  other  save  Mary  alone !  What  soul,  after 
Mary’s,  was  so  filled  with  grace  and  light  as  his  to  whom 
the  angels  bore  God’s  messages?  Vast  was  his  compassion! 

Surely,  too,  Joseph  had  intimate  part  in  the  wonderful 
Epiphany,  Christ’s  manifestation  to  the  Gentiles  led  by  the 
star  from  the  East.  Their  calling  was  our  own  vocation, 
and  they  were  the  representatives  at  the  Saviour’s  birth  for 
all  the  races  not  sprung  from  the  seed  of  Abraham.  Jo¬ 
seph’s  part  in  this  great  mystery,  so  significant  for  the 
Gentile  world,  may  be  more  clear  if  we  remember  that  he  is 
regarded  as  the  first  Christian  missionary  to  heathen  lands, 
since  he  bore  into  pagan  Egypt  the  Christ  Child  and  His 
Mother.  ' 

Of  special  importance  here  is  the  story  of  the  three  days’ 
loss  and  the  finding  of  Christ  in  Jerusalem  where  He  had 
remained  behind  “and  his  parents  knew  it  not.”  Here  in 
truth  was  another  and  unbloody  Golgotha  where  the  soul 
of  Joseph  participated  in  the  Passion  of  Christ.  But  most 
important  for  our  subject  are  the  words  of  Mary  herself, 
when  with  Joseph  she  found  her  Son  in  the  Temple: 

And  seeing  him  they  wondered.  And  his  mother  said  to  him : 
“Son,  why  hast  thou  done  so  to  us?  Behold,  thy  father  and  I  have 
sought  thee  sorrowing. — Luke  ii.  48. 

“Thy  father !”  That  is  the  word  which  in  the  moment 
of  tender  and  loving  emotion,  leaps  to  her  lips  without  any 
premeditation.  “Thy  father"— ii  is  evidently  the  '  name 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


11 


Mary  used  in  speaking  of  Joseph  to  her  Divine  Son.  “Thy 
father  and  I !”  There  in  a  flash  is  revealed  to  us  the  whole 
home  life  of  that  “Earthly  Trinity!”  And  it  is  Joseph, 
too,  who  first  comes  to  Mary’s  mind.  She  is  accustomed 
to  think  of  him  first,  and  does  so  now  even  though  her 
own  heart  too  has  just  passed  with  him  through  a  living 
martyrdom. 

And  then,  once  more,  listen  to  the  name  by  which  the 
Incarnate  Word  is  called  in  that  holy  Family:  “Son!” 
That  was  obviously  the  title  by  which  Joseph,  like  Mary, 
called  the  Divine  Saviour,  “Son,  why  has  thou  done  so  to 
us?”  There  was  One  Other  only  who  might  call  Him  by 
that  title  and  He  was  the  Eternal  Father,  whose  authority 
Joseph  represented. 

Once  only,  and  that  during  this  incident  of  His  stay  in 
the  Temple,  did  Christ  apparently  disregard  the  paternal 
right  of  Joseph.  It  was  because  the  will  and  call  of  His 
Eternal  Father  had  to  take  precedence  over  every  human 
tie.  From  God  alone  is  all  authority,  even  that  of  parents, 
derived.  And  the  great  object  of  Divine  Providence  was 
here  to  teach  both  parents  and  children  the  supreme  lesson 
of  Vocation :  that  God’s  right  is  first  and  foremost,  and 
blessed  they  who  understand  this  truth  and  joyfully  apply 
it  in  their  own  regard ! 

Parents  indeed  have  good  reason  to  rejoice  when  God 
deigns  to  call  their  sons  and  daughters  to  His  sublime 
service,  He  will  more  than  sustain  them  in  their  happy 
sacrifice,  great  though  this  may  often  be.  By  the  perfection 
of  their  holocaust  parents  and  children  both  may  look 
forward  to  God’s  greatest  blessings,  His  hundredfold,  even 
‘here  upon  earth. 

But  with  the  lesson  of  Vocation  taught,  Jesus  freely  and 
entirely  submitted  Himself  to  the  authority  of  His  “par¬ 
ents,”  to  be  subject  to  them  even  to  the  death  of  Joseph 
and  to  His  public  ministry.  “And  he  went  down  with 
them,  and  came  to  Nazareth,  and  was  subject  to  them.” 

Of  that  home  life  in  Nazareth  a  beautiful  description  is 
given  us  from  no  less  a  pen  than  that  of  Pope  Leo  XIII. 
It  was  composed  for  the  Lauds  of  the  Office  of  the  Holy 
Family  and  translated  by  Mgr.  Hugh  T.  Henry: 


A 


:12  .  YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 

U  ■  "  ■  1  1  ■  1  1  ■■  I  ■  ■  ■■  ■!■■■■■■■  ■  ■  .  ..  i 


O  House  of  Nazareth  the  blest, 

Fair  hostess  of  the  Lord, 

The  Church  was  nurtured  at  thy  breast 
And  shared  thy  scanty  board. 

t  .  •  . ' 

•  '  ,  ■  t  -  r  \  ,  . 

.  x  _  „•  i.  "  \  ■  •  ' 

‘  In  all  the  spreading  lands  of  earth 
The  wandering  sun  may  see 

No  dearer  spot,  no  ampler  worth 
Than  erst  was  found  in  thee ! 

'  *  *  .  .  ,  .  .  ...  \  i  •  • 

We  know  thy  humble  tenement 
Was  heaven’s  hermitage : 

Celestial  heralds  came  and  went 
In  endless  embassage. 

C.*  t  i.  A  •  .  ....  , 

4  \  '  ’  t  ’  f 

There,  whatsoever  Joseph  asks 
Christ  hastens  to  fulfil : 

i. 

While  Mary  loves  the  household  tasks 
That  wait  her  joyous  will. 

There  Joseph  toileth  at  her  side 
Her  joys  and  griefs  to  share, 

With  thousand  ties  knit  to  his  bride, 

Ob  love  and  work  and  prayer. 

•  '  ■  '  * '  f 

.  •  «  y  ...  «,  4.  y  '  ,  ,  .  ‘  .  *  •  ■ 

Yet  how  their  bosoms  constant  burn 
And  deeper  ardors  prove 

In  love  of  Christ,  whose  eyes  return 
Tokens  of  mutual  love. 

.  .  ..  .»  .  .  j  J  '  .  *  t 

-  O,  then,  in  all  the  homes  of  earth, 

Be  love  the  bond  of  life : 

May  it  enthrone  at  every  hearth 
The  peace  that  husheth  strife. 


By  the  side  of  these  noble  and  dignified  verses,  incor¬ 
porated  in  the  liturgy  of  the  Church,  let  us  place  another 
poem  written  in  a  fighter  and  more  playful  vein.  It  is  by 
Katherine  Tynan,  and  entitled,  “The  Man  of  the  House/’: 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


13 


- - - 1 

Joseph,  honored  from  sea  to  sea, 

This  is  your  name  that  pleases  me, 

“Man  of  the  House/’  - 

I  see  you  rise  at  the  dawn  and  light 
The  fire  and  blow  till  the  flame  is  bright. 

I  see  you  take  the  pitcher  and  carry 
The  deep  well  water  for  Jesus  and  Mary. 

You  knead  the  corn  for  the  bread  so  fine, 

Gather  them  grapes  from  the  hanging  vine. 

There  are  little  feet  that  are  soft  and  slow, 

Follow  you  whithersoever  you  go. 

There’s  a  little  face  at  your  workshop  door, 

A  little  one  sits  down  on  your  floor : 

Holds  His  hands  for  the  shavings  curled, 

The  soft  little  hands  that  have  made  the  world. 

;  a  ^  ^  *  ,  m ;  . .  .  .4  t  ;  * 

Mary  calls  you:  the  meal  is  ready: 

You  swing  the  Child  to  your  shoulder  steady. 

I  see  your  quiet  smile  as  you  sit 
And  watch  the  little  Son  thrive  and  eat. 

,.i.*  ‘  -  ■  .  ,  '  t. 

The  vine  curls  by  the  window  space, 

The  wings  of  angels  cover  the  face. 

Up  in  the  rafters,  polished  and  olden, 

There’s  a  Dove  that  broods  and  his  wings  are  golden. 

You  who  kept  Them  through  shine  and  storm, 

A  staff,  a  shelter  kindly  and  warm. 

Father  of  Jesus,  husband  of  Mary, 

Hold  us  your  lilies  for  sanctuary ! 

Joseph^  honored  from  sea  to- sea, 

Guard  me  mine  and  my  own  roof-tree. 

“Man  of  the  House.” 


III. 

PREFIGURED  IN  THE  OLD  LAW 


While  directly  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  St. 
Joseph  is  hardly  less  clearly  foreshadowed  in  the  Old. 
Many  types  and  figures  are  pointed  to,  such  as  Abraham 
and  Moses,  yet  the  Church  herself  in  her  Divine  Office 
dwells  most  insistently  upon  the  similarity  between  the 
Egyptian  Joseph  and  the  Foster-father  of  Our  Lord.  Con¬ 
stantly,  and  with  most  happy  effect,  she  applies  to  the 
Spouse  of  Mary  the  Scripture  words  spoken  of  him  whom 
Pharoah  so  gloriously  exalted.  Well,  therefore,  could  Pope 
Leo  XIII  say  that  we  may  with  full  right  claim  to  see  in 
the  earlier  Joseph  the  “express  image”  of  the  later  and 
greater  Patriarch. 

It  is  a  fact  that  under  certain  aspects  Christ  also  is  pre¬ 
figured  by  the  Egyptian  Joseph,  in  whom  we  certainly  be¬ 
hold  one  of  the  most  beautiful,  attractive  and  lovable 
figures  of  the  Old  Testament.  But  the  truth  of  that  further 
and  more  minute  parallel  which  the  Church  so  insistently 
draws  between  the  two  great  Patriarchs,  who  both  provi¬ 
dentially  came  into  the  pagan  land  of  Egypt  and  both  ar¬ 
rived  there  through  the  cruel  injustice  of  man,  and  both 
brought  with  them  a  blessing  for  that  land  of  idols,  and  the 
world  is  nowise  affected  by  this  fact. 

Naturally,  it  is  to  the  chastity  of  the  Egyptian  Joseph 
that  our  thoughts  will  first  revert.  In  this  he  stands  forth 
as  a  beautiful  type  of  the  angelic  purity  of  our  own  St. 
Joseph,  a  purity  such  as  never  was  required  of  any  other 
mortal  man.  For  Joseph  was  to  be  the  virgin  Spouse  of 
the  immaculate  Mother  of  Christ  and  the  virginal  Guardian 
of  the  immaculate  Lamb  of  God.  He  was  to  be  the  “shadow” 
of  the  Eternal  Father,  and  visibly  to  hold  the  place  of 
Mary’s  invisible  Spouse,  the  Holy  Ghost; 

More  than  the  Egyptian  Joseph,  he  was  entrusted  with 
the  greatest  treasures  earth  has  ever  known  and  was  given 
complete  management  of  that  household  of  which  God 
Himself  was  a  member.  More  than  his  Egyptian  name¬ 
sake,  too,  was  he  supremely  successful  in  all  things,  serving 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


15 


\ 


j 


most  perfectly  His  Divine  Master,  who  at  the  same  time 
was  his  least  and  humblest  subject.  Well,  therefore,  does 
the  Church  quote  in  reference  to  St.  Joseph  those  words  of 
the  Old  Testament : 


And  Joseph  found  favor  in  the  sight  of  his  master, 
and  ministered  to  him :  and  being  set  over  all  by  him, 
he  governed  the  house  committed  to  him,  and  all  things 
that  were  delivered  to  him. — Gen.  xxxix.  4. 


Not  only  was  the  house  of  Putiphar  blessed  for  the  sake 
of  Joseph  and  all  his  substance  increased,  for  “the  Lord 
was  with  him,  arid  he  was  a  prosperous  man  in  all  things,’* 
but  in  time  to  come  the  whole  kingdom  of  Pharaoh  himself 
was  to  be  entrusted  to  Joseph,  even  as  the  universal  Church 
has  been  placed  under  the  patronage  of  our  great  Saint. 
Again  the  Church  herself,  with  supreme  fitness,  applies  to 
him  here  the  words  of  Pharaoh: 


Can  we  find  such  another  man,  that  is  full  of  the  spirit 
of  God?  .  .  . 

Seeing  God  has  shown  thee  all  that  thou  has  said, 
can  I  -find  one  wiser  and  one  like  unto  thee  ? 

Thou  shalt  be  over  my  house.  .  .  .  Behold,  I  have  appointed 
thee  over  the  whole  land  of  Egypt.— Gen.  xli;  38-41. 


At  the  command  of  his  mouth  all  people  were  to  obey. 
Only  in  his  kingly  throne  would  Pharaoh  remain  above 
him,  but  all  Egypt  was  to  be  subject  to  him..  And  Pharaoh 
took  the  ring  from  his  hand  and  gave  it  to  Joseph,-  and  he 
put  on  him  a  robe  of  silk,  and  hung  a  chain  of  gold  about 
his  neck.  He  bade  him  ascend  into  Pharaoh’s  own  second 
chariot,  while  a  crier  went  before  proclaiming  that  all  must 
do  homage  to  him,  for  henceforth  he  was  to  be  the  governor 
of  the  whole  land  of  Egypt. 

But  what  was  the  governorship  over  the  land  of  Egypt 
compared  with  the  dignity  of  being  entrusted,  not  only  with 
the  care  of  Christ  and  His  Ever-virgin  Mother,  but'  of 
being  solemnly  proclaimed  Patron  of  the  universal  Church. 


16 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


j 


Under  Joseph’s  care  God  wished  to  place  all  the  members 
of  Christ’s  mystic  body,  and  for  that  reason,  too,  did  He 
bestow  on  him  a  father’s  heart,  vast  in  its  capabilities  of 
love,  that  all  might  be  embraced  in  its  watchful  protection 
and  tender  affection. 

The  great  service  performed  by  the  earlier  Patriarch,  be¬ 
cause  of  which  Pharaoh  himself  gave  to  him  a  new  name, 
which  in  the  Egyptian  tongue  signified,  “Savior  of  the 
World,”  consisted  in  saving  from  death  the  inhabitants  not 
merely  of  Egypt  but  also  of  the  surrounding  lands.  And 
this  he  did  by  preserving  for  them  the  wheat  of  the  years 
of  abundance  that  it  might  keep  them  alive  during  the  years 
of  starvation. 

Here  in  truth  he  became  the  most  beautiful  prototype  of 
that  later  Joseph,  who  preserved  from  the  hands  of  Herod 
the  true  Bread  of  life,  which  is  Christ  Jesus.  Joseph  of 
Egypt  garnered  away  year  by  year  the  grain .  harvested  in 
the  time  of  plenty,  and  so  Joseph,  Patron  of  all  the  Church’s 
children,  year  by  year  guarded  and  preserved  for  us  Him 
who  in  the  years  to  come  was  to  be  our  daily  food  in  the 
Holy  Eucharist : 

I  am  the  living  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven. 

If  any  man  eat  of  this  bread,  he  shall  live  forever;  and 
the  bread  that  I  will  give  is  my  flesh  for  the  life  of  the 
world. — John  vi.  51,  52. 

Although  Jesus  is  the  one  true  “Saviour  of  the  world,” 
yet  Joseph,  too,  had  part  in  the  sublime  work  of  the  world’s 
redemption.  St.  Joseph,  it  has  often  been  said,  was  the 
savior  of  the  Saviour  of  mankind.  On  him  did  we  de¬ 
pend  for  our  Bread  of  life  even  far  more  than  the  world 
in  the  ancient  days  depended  on  the  Egyptian  Joseph  for 
the  purely  material  bread  of  the  body.  It  was  Joseph’s 
virginity  that  made  possible  Mary’s  Virginal  Motherhood. 
Great  was  the  debt  that  Egypt  owed  to  its  preserver  but  far 
greater  is  the  debt  that  every  human  being  owes  and  ever 
must  owe  to  Joseph. 

But  there  are  still  other  striking  parallels.  It  was  in 
sleep  that  the  great  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  was  made 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


17 


known  to  Joseph  and  his  own  surpassing  part  in  it,  which 
was  henceforth  to  dominate  and  determine  his  whole  life. 
In  the  same  way  the  Angel  again  came  to  him  and  bade 
him  take  the  Child  and  His  Mother  and  flee  with  them 
into  Egypt.  So,  too,  We  are  once  more  told,  “an  angel  ot 
the  Lord  appeared  in  sleep  to  Joseph  in  Egypt”  ordering 
him  back  into  the  land  of  rsrael.  And  when,  on  arriving 
there,  new  dangers  confronted  him,  “being  warned  in  sleep,” 
he  retired  “into  the  quarters  of  Galilee.  And  coming  he 
dwelled  in  a  city  called  Nazareth.” 

Can  we  fail  to  see  how  intimately  in  all  this  he  was 
prefigured  by  the  Egyptian  Joseph?  A  divinely  sent, , 
prophetic  dream  also  determined  the  whole  life  of  this 
earlier  Patriarch,  precisely  as  in  the  case  of  St.  Joseph. 
His  bretheren  in  fact  called  him  “the  dreamer,”  and  here 
was  the  great  dream  itself  that  seemed  most  to  have  aroused 
their  jealousy : 

•  >  He  dreamed  also  another  dream,  which  he  told  his 

brethren,  saying :  “I  saw  in  a  dream,  as  it  were  the  sun, 
and  the  moon,  and  eleven  stars  worshipping  me.”— 

Gen.  xxxvil.  9. 

That  dream  was  prophetic  not  merely  of  the  future 
greatness  of  Joseph,  the  future  ruler  of  Egypt,  but  it  also 
can  be  most  beautifully  applied  in  the  case  of  St.  Joseph 
himself,  the  Spouse  of  Mary  and  the  virginal  father  of 
Christ. 

To  “worship,”  of  course,  does  not  in  this  connection 
imply  any  religious  act,  but  the  homage  paid  by  a  subject 
to  a  person  in  authority.  To  Joseph,  Christ  Himself,  the 
eternal  Sun  of  Justice,  and  Mary,  the  Mother  of  God.  who 
reflected  in  tender  beauty  the  dazzling  brightness  of  that 
Sun,  were  to  give  their  most  complete  obedience.  Christ 
was  “subject”  to  him,  the  Scripture  plainly  tells  us.  Mary, 
too,  as  his  true  wife,  joyfully  rendered  her  own  loving 
obedience  to  Joseph  as  the  head  of  the  house.  The  sub¬ 
mission  of  both  to  him,  as  the  representative  of  the  Eternal 
Father,  could  not  be  shown  more  perfectly  than  in  the 
Angel’s  summons:  “Arise  and  take  the  child  and  his 


18 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


j 


mother. ”  To  Joseph — not  to  Jesus  or  to  Mary — were  the 
orders  of  Heaven  issued.  Though  he  was  in  truth  the 
least  of  that  Earthly  Trinity,  in  grace  and  dignity  inferior 
to  both  Christ  and  Mary,  yet  he  was  the  first  and  greatest 
in  authority.  But  for  his  own  part  he  gives  us  the  example 
of  the  most  perfect  of  superiors,  sacrificing  his  whole  life 
in  humble  and  unselfish  devotion,  to  those  whom  God  had 
given  into  his  faithful  charge. 

Thus,  then,  did  Sun  and  Moon  bow  in  sweet  obedience 
to  Joseph,  while  the  eleven  stars,  representing  the  tribes 
of  Israel  and  through  them  the  Faithful  of  God’s  Church, 
over  which  Joseph  is  placed  as  the  Patron  of  this  mystic 
Israel,  unite  in  giving  the  most  constant,  universal  and 
affectionate  veneration  to  him.  Here,  then,  we  have  in  all 
truth  “the  sun,  the  moon,  and  eleven  stars  worshipping” 
Joseph,  that  is,  yielding  complete  obedience  to  him  as  did 
Jesus  and  Mary,  or  giving  loving  veneration  as  does  today 
the  Universal  Church,  placed  like  Christ  Himself  beneath 
St.  Joseph’s  fostering  care.  What  man  was  ever  honored 
like  to  this ! 

But,  for  our  own  sake,  the  best  still  remains  to  be  said. 
Why  was  the  splendor  and  power  of  the  Egyptian  Pharaoh 
providentially  conferred  on  the  earlier  Joseph?  Was  it  riot 
that  by  using  his  position  for  the  benefit  of  others  and  for 
the  glory  of  God  he  might  become,  in  a  sense,  as  Pharaoh 
magnificently  called  him,  the  “savior  of  the  world.”  He 
was  not,  like  Christ,  to  save  men  from  their  sins,  but 
merely  from  their  material  wants,  yet  he  was  to  be  a  di¬ 
vinely  ordained  instrument  for  preserving  the  lives  of  his 
own  brethern  as  well  as  of  countless  others  in  his  day. 
When  the  famine  at  length  broke  out,  and  the  people  cried 
to  Pharaoh  for  food,  all  that  he  said  to  them  was :  “Go  to 
Joseph :  and  do  all  that  he  shall  say  to  you.” 

Here  surely  there  is  a  great  lesson  to  be  learned,  for 
constantly  the  Church  repeats  to  us  the  selfsame  words : 
“Go  to  Joseph!” 

Catholics  well  know  they  have  at  all  times  free  access  to 
God,  and  no  one  is  ever  placed  as  a  hindrance  between 
them  and  Him.  The  sacred  Humanity  of  Christ  Itself  is 
not  an  obstacle  to  prevent  their  closest  approach  to  the 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


19 


Triune  God,  but  a  help  leading  up  to  Him.  So,  in  their 
own  sweet  way,  Mary  and  Joseph  have  but  one  function, 
and  that  is  to  bring  us  to  Christ,  for  we  are  Christ’s  and 
Christ  is  God’s.  Gently  they  lead  us  in  our  weakness  up 
to  Him  or  bear  us  in  their  encircling  arms  where  we  might 
else  stumble  and  fall,  or  even  fail  entirely  to  attain  our  own 
eternal  destiny.  They  do  far  more.  They  intercede  for 
us,  and  where*  our  prayers  are  so  weak,  so  feeble,  and  our 
lives  so  unworthy,  they  obtain  What  else  might  be  denied 
us  or  certainly  would  be  given  in  less  fulness  and  abundance. 

Christ  cannot  but  be  pleased  if  we  love  those  whom  He 
loves  most  dearly,  and  so  in  her  turn  Mary  cannot  but 
rejoice  at  the  tender  love  we  show  to  Joseph  and  the  child¬ 
like  trust  with  which  we  go  to  him.  So  Christ  Himself 
did  not  disdain  to  have  recourse  to  him  for  help 
and  for  protection.  Often,  too,  on  his  strong  shoulders 
Mary  leaned  and  found  comfort  at  his  loyal,  manly  breast, 
warm  with  boundless  and  untold  affection.  He  was  the 
stay  and  help  she  needed  in  her  weariness  and  trials,  pa¬ 
tiently  endured  for  her  Divine  Son  and  Saviour. 

More  did  she  owe  to  Joseph  than  words  can  ever  tell. 
He  was  the  guardian  of  her  virginity,  the  preserver  of  her 
Child,  the  support  and  sure  reliance  of  her  earthly  life, 
a  guide  along  the  way,  a  comfort  in  affliction,  a  new  joy 
added  to  her  happiness  for  time  and  for  eternity,  and  above 
all  the  faithful  confidant  of  the  Divine  secret  that  was  safely 
laid  up  in  his  devoted  heart. 

Is  it  then  hard  to  see  why  Mary  must  love  those  who  love 
her  loyal  Spouse,  and  Why  Christ  Himself  would  have  us 
imitate  the  confidence  that  He  unfailingly  reposed  in  him? 
Knowing  St.  Joseph  as  we  now  can  know  him,  how  could 
we  ever  fully  please  either  Jesus  or  Mary  if  we  failed  to 
show  him  in  our  turn  something  at  least  of  that  honor, 
love  and  confidence  that  they  unceasingly  bestowed  0*1 
him?  In  the  hands  of  Joseph,  let  us  remember,  is  still  the 
mystic  key  to  the  Hearts  of  Jesus  and  Mary  that  can  open 
them  for  us  at  will. 

Joseph  of  old  might  hold  the  keys  to  the  granaries  of 
Egypt,  but  our  own  St.  Joseph  can  open  at  will  the  golden 
granaries  of  Heaven.  Who  would  not  go  to  Joseph? 


20 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


j 


Considering  the  Egyptian  Joseph  as  a  type  of  our  own 
Saint,  a  most  pertinent  question  has  been  asked  regarding 
those  words  coming  from  the  lips  of  Pharaoh:  “Go  to 
Joseph !”  Are  we  to  view  them  as  really  meant  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  apply  to  our  own  St.  Joseph?  If  that  is  true  they 
necessarily  imply  the  promise  to  us  that  our  prayers  shall 
be  heard  with  special  favor  when  presented  through  him. 
“Go  to  Joseph/’  spoken  typically  of  St.  Joseph,  must  be 
understood  with  the  additional,  “and  there  you  shall  receive 
help.” 

Whatever  deep  meaning  we  give  to  these  words,  they 
certainly  have  the  highest  significance  for  us.  That  much 
at  least  we  may  say  without  doubt.  The  interpretation  of 
the  Fathers,  the  liturgical  use  which  the  Church  makes  of 
them,  the  exhortations  from  the  See  of  Peter,  all  imply 
that  this  counsel  and  admonition:  “Go  to  Joseph!”  is  not 
to  be  taken  lightly.  We  cannot  understand  it  in  any  other 
way  than  as  a  solemn  assurance  on  the  part  of  Holy  Church, 
the  Bride  of  Christ,  that  if  we  heed  her  voice,  and  in  our 
needs  and  trials  “go  to  Joseph,”  we  cannot  be  disappointed. 
Ite  ad  Joseph ,  “Go  to  Joseph!”  she  repeats  with  loving 
insistance,  until  it  has  become  a  familiar  refrain  to  every 
ear:  “Go  to  Joseph;  and  do  all  that  he  shall  say  to  you.” 

That  last  clause,  too,  we  must  not  omit.  To  be  like 
Christ,  children  of  Joseph,  is  not  enough,  we  must  like 
Christ  also  be  children  obedient  to  him.  The  will  of  Jo¬ 
seph  is  no  other  than  the  will  of  God  in  our  regard.  But 
he  in  turn  will  help  us  to  fulfil  it  perfectly,  as  he  himself 
fulfilled  it  here  below.  For  he  was  ever  a  man  faithful  and 
just. 

But  that  our  prayers  may  be  heard  we  must  naturally 
comply  with  the  conditions  of  every  prayer  of  petition.  We 
should  go  to  him  with  confidence  and  persistence,  and  what 
we  ask  must  be  pleasing  to  God.  Should  our  favor  not 
be  granted  then  something  better  is  doubtless  in  store  for 
us.  From  the  Chair  of  Peter  itself  we  are  exhorted  with 
ardent  words  to  cherish  in  our  souls  this  trusting  devotion 
to  St.  Joseph.  Addressing  the  universal  Christian  jvorld 
Pope  Leo  XIII  solemnly  proclaimed : 


21 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


Our  heart  harbors  yet  another  wish.  We  deem  it 
most  salutary  that  the  Christian  people,  besides  their 
veneration  for  the  Ever-Blessed  Virgin  and  Mother  of 
God,  honor  oBo  and' invoke  with  unbounded  cdnfidence 
her  most  pure  Spouse,  St.  Joseph.  ...  We  are  greatly 
concerned  that  this  devotion  strike  deep  root  in  the  life 
and  habits  of  the  Faithful. 

Surely  most  needed  by  souls  is  that  beautiful  prayer  we  are 
taught  to  recite  daily  from  childhood  up: 

Guardian  of  virgins,  and  holy  father  Joseph,  to  whose 
faithful  custody  Christ  Jesus,  Innocence  itself,  and  Mary, 

Virgin  of  virgins,  were  committed ;  I  pray  and  beseech 
thee,  by  these  dear,  pledges,  Jesus  and  Mary,  that,  being 
preserved  from  all  uncleanness,  I  may  with  spotless  mind, 
pure  heart  and  chaste  body,  ever  serve  Jesus  and  Mary 
most  chastely  all  the  days  of  my  life. 

It  is  a  pious  belief,  says  St.  Benardine  of  Sienna,  though 
certain  proof  cannot  be  given,  that  out  of  the  greatness  of 
His  filial  love  Jesus  bestowed  upon  His  Foster-father  also 
the  privilege  which  He  granted  to  Mary  in  her  Assumption. 
It  is  accepted  by  Saints  and  learned  men  that  when,  upon 
the  death  of  Jesus,  “the  graves  opened  and  many  bodies  of 
saints  that  had  slept  arose,”  as  the  Scripture  tells  us,  Joseph 
\vas  doubtless  among  their  number.  And  it  is  further  be¬ 
lieved  by  them  that  his  body  did  not  thereafter  return  again 
to  dust,  but  that  he  now  reigns,  like  Mary,  glorious  in  body 
and  soul,  with  Christ. 

:  This,  says  no  less  an  auhority  than  the  great  Jesuit  the¬ 
ologian  Suarez,  “is  an  opinion  sufficiently  accepted,  accord¬ 
ing  to  which  it  becomes  probable  that  St.  Joseph  is  reigning 
with  Christ  in  glorified  body  and  soul.”  ( Opera  Omnia,  XIX, 
Q  xxix,  art.  ii,  8.)  So,  then,  with  St.  Bernardine  we  may 
gladly  .and  reasonably  believe  that  “the  Holy  Family,  united 
on  earth  by  a  community  of  suffering  and  the  bonds  of  love, 
now  in  body  and  soul  reigns  glorified  in  Heaven.  More  hon¬ 
ored  than  Joseph  of  Egypt  is  Joseph  the  spouse  of  Mary, 
surpassing,  we  may  further  believe,  all  other  saints  in  grace 
and  in  beatitude.  !  .  v  . 


IV. 


WHY  WE  LOVE  ST.  JOSEPH 

Devotion  to  St.  Joseph  is  preeminently  a  Scriptural  de¬ 
votion.  Its  first  promoter  is  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  strongest 
impetus  to  its  growth  was  given  by  the  wiitings  of  the 
early  Fathers  and  Doctors  of  the  Church.  The  pages  of 
St.  Augustine,  St.  Chrysostom,  St.  Ambrose  glow  with  the 
praise  of  this  great  Saint.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  St.  Bernard 
exalted  his  virtues.  In  more  recent  times,  St.  Bernardine 
of  Sienna,  Gerson,  St.  Francis  de  Sales  and  St.  Teresa  are 
illustrious  for  their  devotion  to  this  Saint  of  Saints.  These 
are  but  a  few  names  out  of  the  many  to  show  that  there 
was  no  time  when  the  glories  of  St.  Joseph  were  ignored, 
although  in  the  Divine  Providence  the  highest  honor  was 
bestowed  upon  him  in  these  later  times  when  one  hundred 
and  fifty-three  of  the  Fathers  gathered  at  the  Vatican 
Council  petitioned  that  he  be  declared  Patron  of  the  Uni¬ 
versal  Church. 

It  was  eminently  fitting  that  this  glorious  dignity  should 
be  conferred  upon  him,  and  that  he  who  had  been  the 
guardian  of  Christ  and  His  Blessed  Mother,  should  also  be 
the  Patron  of  that  Church  which  Christ  came  to  found. 
He  who  had  nourished,  protected  and  preserved  the  body  of 
the  Saviour  was  rightly  selected  as  the  Patron  of  His  mystic 
body,  consisting  of  all  the  Faithful.  As  the  Head  of  the 
Holy  House  of  Nazareth  he  deserved  also  to  be  set  as 
guardian  over  that  spiritual  structure  Christ  would  build 
upon  the  Rock  of  Peter.  Unbounded,  therefore,  was  the  joy 
of  all  Christians  when  Pius  IX  solemnly  proclaimed  St. 
Joseph  Patron  of  the  Universal  Church.  Leo  XIII  re¬ 
affirmed  this  patronage  and  added  all  his  prestige  to  the 
promotion  of  the  beautiful  devotion  to  this  great  Saint, 
which  so  strongly  appeals  to  every  Christian  heart  that  truly 
loves  Christ  and  His  Virgin  Mother. 

There  is  no  age,  no  sex,  no  rank,  no  class,  no  profession 
or  walk  of  life  whereof  St.  Joseph  is  not  the  proper 
patron.  Virgins  can  confidently  call  on  him,  for  he  was  the 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


23 


guardian  of  Mary.  Those  joined  in  holy  wedlock  will  do 
well  to  put  themselves  under  his  protection  to  whom  was 
given  supreme  charge  over  the  holiest  of  families.  Children 
will  sweetly  fold  their  hands  and  seek  his  love  and  inter¬ 
cession,  since  they  know  he  bore  in  his  strong  arms  the 
sweet  Christ  Child.  Youths  and  maidens  all  will  find  in 
him  a  fatherly  protector  and  a  wise  counsellor  who  safely 
guided  and  tenderly  cherished  the  maiden  Mary  and  the 
youthful  Christ.  The  rich  and  the  great  of  this  earth  can 
look  up  to  him  as  the  noblest  of  a  royal  line,  the  princely 
scion  of  David,  the  man  exalted  in  his  sublime  position 
above  all  dignities  of  earth  and  heaven,  less  only  than  the 
Virgin  Mother  of  God  herself  in  his  intimate  relationship 
to  the  Incarnate  Word.  But  the  poor  and  lowly  and  those 
who  drain  the  cup  of  suffering  can  best  understand  this 
great  but  gentle  Saint,  with  the  hardened  hands  of  toil,  who 
in  the  sweat  of  his  brow  earned  the  daily  bread  for  Jesus 
and  for  Mary.  Doubtless,  he  too  had  tasted  all  the  trials 
and  the  hardships  of  this  life,  with  its  dearth  and  unem- 
ployrqent,  its  weary  search  for  labor,  its  wanderings  among 
people  of  an  alien  tongue,  its  often  penurious  wage,  its 
goading  stings  and  harsh  indignities  from  man’s  unkindness 
and  the  bitter  bread  of  the  poor.  There  are  the  pangs  of 
the  poorest  of  the  poor,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  Joseph 
felt  them  all. 

It  was  Joseph  who  supported  Mary  when  all  the  doors  of 
Bethlehem  were  shut  upon  them,  who  .turned  into  a  home 
the  foul  and  loathsome  stable  that  took  on  brightness  from 
the  touch  of  Mary’s  fingers,  and  who  made  ready  for  the 
Infant  Christ  the  one  and  only  piece  of  rough-hewn,  ancient 
,  furniture,  the  manger  of  the  beasts.  It  was  he  who  gathered 
the  clean  straws  and  with  loving  hand  placed  them  for  a 
bedding  in  the  crib.  With  pious  relism,  W.  M.  Letts  has 
sketched  the  scene  of  adoration  that  now  followed  by  first 
describing  its  modem  parallel,  as  in  many  a  church  and  on 
many  a  Christmas  day  it  was  to  be  repeated  through  the 
centuries  to  come: 


24  YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 

_ _ _ _ _ j 

Foreninst  the  crib  there  kneels  a  little  child, 

Behind  him  in  her  ragged  shawl  his  mother, 

For  all  the  ages  that  have  passed  one  child 
Still  finds  God  in  another. 

And  there’s  our  Saviour  lying  in  the  hay, 

Behind  Him  in  her  shawl  His  watchful  Mother ; 

Two  mothers  with  their  sons,  each  knows  the  joys 
And  sorrows  of  the  other. 

The  Father  kneels  away  there  by  the  door, 

The  hands  he  clasps  in  prayer  are  rough  with  labor ; 

The  likes  of  Him  that  hunger  and  that  toil 
Once  called  St.  Joseph  neighbor. 

St.  Joseph  is  a  saint  that  everyone  must  love.  His  own 
love  for  Mary  and  for  Jesus,  his  tender  care  for  them 
and  their  unbounded  gratitude  and  sweet  affection  in  re¬ 
turn,  make  it  impossible  not  to  feel  drawn  to  him,  and 
with  Mary  and  Jesus  to  entrust  ourselves  to  his  care  and 
intercession.  Love  of  St.  Joseph  might  almost,  in  our  day, 
be  called  a  test  of  the  depth  of  true  Catholicism.  To  think 
of  the  Holy  Family  and  leave  him  out  of  our  range  would 
surely  be  a  spiritual  abnormality.  Thus  the  Little  Flower, 
writing  of  her  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  says  in  her  loving  and 
confident  way : 

I  prayed  especially  to  St.  Joseph  to  watch  over  me. 

From  my  childhood,  devotion  to  him  had  been  inter¬ 
woven  with  my  love  for  our  Blessed  Lady.  Every  day 
I  said  the  prayer  beginning :  “Guardian  of  virgins,  and 
holy  father  Joseph”  ...  so  I  felt  that  I  was  well  pro¬ 
tected  and  quite  safe  from  danger.  » 

But  there  is  another  and  most  charming  reference  to  him 
which  shows  her  childlike  familiarity  with  the  Holy  Family 
— and  why  indeed  should  we  not  all  be  perfectly  at  home 
in  that  holy  house  of  Nazareth,  with  those  three  most  dear 
and  near  to  us:  Jesus,  Mary,  Joseph!  It  was  in  the  re¬ 
fectory,  she  says,  that  the  sweetest  aspirations  of  love 
often  came  to  her.  Sometimes  she  quite  came  to  a  stand¬ 
still  at  the  thought  that  Our  Lord,  if  in  her  place,  would 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


25 


have  partaken  of  the  very  dishes  there  set  before  her.  Then 
she  adds,  “Here  are  my  little  rubrics,”  and  she  thus  sets 
forth  her  table  program : 

I  imagine  myself  at  Nazareth,  in  the  house  of  the  Holy 
Family.  If,  for  instance,  I  am  served  with  salad,  cold 
fish,  wine  or  anything  pungent  in  taste,  I  offer  it  to  St. 
Joseph.  To  Our  Blessed  Lady  I  offer  hot  foods  and  ripe 
fruits,  and  to  the  Infant  Jesus  our  feast-day  fare,  espe¬ 
cially  broth,  rice  and  preserves. 

Lastly,  when  I  am  served  a  wretched  dinner  I  say 
cheerfully:  “Today,  my  little  one,  it  is  all  for  you!” 

That  is  Divine  love  at  play.  And  there  was  much  play 
and  joy,  too,  in  that  Holy  Family,  and  not  all  sorrow,  trial 
and  hardship.  The  gladdest  hearts  the  world  has  ever 
known  were  in  that  home,  for  the  simple  reason  that  they 
were  the  holiest.  Let  us  hold  fast  to  that  truth,  and  let 
no  wrong  asceticism  ever  drive  it  out  of  our  mind.  To  be 
glad  is  our  duty.  Rejoice  always,  the  Apostles  tell  us,  but 
rejoice  in  the  Lord, 

Mary  and  Joseph  profoundly  adored  the  God  who  hac: 
made  Himself  their  “Son,”  nor  need  we  imagine  that  it 
was  difficult  for  them  to  blend  the  most  perfect  devotion 
the  world  has  ever  known  with  the  sweetest  family  affection. 
We  see  how  the  Little  Flower  herself  can  make  her  play¬ 
mate  of  the  Christ  Child,  and  even  far  more  perfectly  than 
she  could  Joseph  and  Mary  both  play  with  Him  and  adore 
Him.  Then,  too,  God  gave  to  them  a  special  grace  that 
went  with  this  vocation.  Coventry  Patmore  comes  home  to 
a  great  truth  when  he  thus  naively  describes  St.  Joseph’s 
love  for  Mary  and  the  love  of  Mary  for  Christ,  all  so 
human  and  all  so  Divine : 

Say,  did  his  sisters  wonder  what  could  Joseph  see 
In  a  mild,  silent  little  maid  like  thee? 

And  was  it  awful,  in  that  narrow  house, 

With  God. for  Babe  and  Spouse? 

Nay,  like  thy  simple,  female  sort,  each  one 
Apt  to  find  Him  in  Husband  and  in  Son, 


26 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


J 


Nothing  to  thee  came  strange  in  this 
Thy  wonder  was  but  wondrous  bliss.  .  .  . 

All  mothers  worship  little  feet, 

And  kiss  the  very  ground  they’ve  trod  ; 

But,  oh,  thy  little  Baby  sweet 
Who  was  indeed  thy  God ! 

We  see  here,  too,  how  devotion  to  St.  Joseph  is  always 
connected  with  devotion  to  Mary  and  Jesus,  and  cannot  but 
help  constantly  to  promote  this  in  our  lives.  Best  known 
for  her  devotion  to  St.  Joseph  is  undoubtedly  the  Patron 
and  spiritual  Mother  of  the  Little  Flower,  St.  Teresa  of 
Avila.  She  herself  tells  us  how  Our  Blessed  Lady  appeared 
to  her  with  Joseph  to  reward  her  for  her  great  devotion 
to  him.  ~ 

She  seemed  to  perceive,  St.  Teresa  says,  a  white  mantle 
cast  about  her,  showing  how  she  was  cleansed  from  all  sin, 
while  Our  Lady  with  both  hands  embraced  her  and  ex¬ 
pressed  great  pleasure  at  the  affectionate  devotion  and  love 
shown  for  her  pure  Spouse  St.  Joseph.  She  then  recom¬ 
mended  St.  Teresa  to  turn  to  him  for  all  that  might  be  best 
for  the  convent,  with  the  assurance  that,  it  would  be  granted 
her.  Finally,  Our  Lady  presented  her  with  a  precious  stone 
as  a  pledge  of  what  she  had  promised,  while  a  rich  necklace, 
with  a  golden  cross,  seemed  to  be  placed  about  her  neck. 
At  the  conclusion  of  this  vision  the  soul  of  St.  Teresa  was 
filled  with  a  burning  desire  to  live  solely  and  alone  for  the 
service  of  God.  Such  sentiments,  together  with  the  peace 
which  God  gives,  are  the  test,  as  St.  Ignatius  says,  by 
which  we  can  always  recognize  the  work  of  the  good  spirit 
within  our  souls  and  can  certainly  know  that  we  are  not 
being  deceived  or  misled. 

St.  Joseph  is  in  a  special  way  the  Patron  of  souls  who 
wish  to  make  progress  in  the  interior  life,  wherein  he  him¬ 
self  was  a  consummate  master.  This  is  true  of  all  souls,  no 
mater  how  far  they  may  proceed  in  the  spiritual  or  mys¬ 
tical  life.  A  special  evidence,  if  any  evidence  were  needed, 
are  the  frequent  Divine  communications  vouchsafed  him. 
Four  distinct  occasions  are  mentioned  in  the  Sacred  Scrip¬ 
tures  on  which  he  was  favored  with  angelic  visitations.  But 
we  do  not  need  these  extraordinary  signs  of  Heaven  to 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


27 


_ i 

appreciate  how  deeply  versed  in  spiritual  things  he  must 
have  been  who  for  almost  thirty  years  of  his  life  was  in 
constant  intercourse  with  the  Mother  of  God  and  with  God 
Himsefl  in  human  form. 

Wisely  did  St.  Teresa  place  under  his  special  patronage 
all  the  Carmelite  convents  she  founded.  To  a  great  number 
she  gave  his  own  name.  Other  religious  Orders  in  the 
Church  similarly  sought  to  honor  St.  Joseph. 

Classical  in  the  literature  on  our  great  Patriarch  are  St. 
Teresa’s  famous  words  that  have  inspired  increased  con¬ 
fidence  towards  him  in  countless  souls,  ever  since  the  day 
they  first  were  written: 

I  took  St.  Joseph  for  my  patron  and  advocate,  and 
I  recommend  myself  unceasingly  to  his  protection.  I 
do  not  remember  ever  to  have  asked  anything  of  him 
that  I  did  not  obtain. 

It  seems  as  though  God  gives  to  other  saints  the 
grace  to  assist  us  in  some  certain  necessity ;  but  according 
to  my  experience  St.  Joseph  assists  us  in  every  want, 

Our  Lord  wishing  to  make  us  understand  that,  as  He 
was  obedient  to  His  Foster-father  here  upon  earth,  so 
He  now  can  refuse  him  no  request  in  Heaven.  Many 
persons  who  have  invoked  him  by  my  advice  have  ex¬ 
perienced  this  truth,  and  the  number  of  his  clients  in¬ 
creases  daily  and  corroborates  what  I  declare. 

I  would  desire  to  persuade  everyone  to  honor  so  great 
a  Saint,  so  frequently  have  I  been  shown  the  powerful 
influence  he  possesses  with  God.  I  have  never  met  any¬ 
one  who  had  true  devotion  to  him,  who  did  not  advance 
rapidly  in  the  path  of  virtue,  because  he  mightily  aids 
all  who  recommend  themselves  to  his  intercession. 

For  several  years  past  I  have  asked  a  special  favor  at 
his  festival,  and  it  has  always  been  granted;  or,  if  the 
request  was  not  judicious,  he  has  denied  it  for  my 
greater  good.  I  implore  those  who  do  not  credit  this  to 
make  the  trial  for  themselves.  Let  him  who  has  no  guide 
in  the  way  of  prayer  take  this  great  Patriarch  for  his 
director,  he  will  not  go  astray. 


* 


V. 

THE  POWER  OF  ST.  JOSEPH 

It  surely  was  a  daring  promise  made  by  the  Little  Flower, 
and  yet  not  too  daring  to  be  wholly  true,  when  she  gave  us 
the  assurance  that  God  would  deny  her  nothing  in  Heaven 
for  the  simple  reason  that  she  had  never  refused  Him  any¬ 
thing  on  earth.  What  then  can  God  deny  to  St.  Joseph 
who  is  above  all  saints  the  model  of  obedience  to  the  Divine 
will  ?  •  •  ,  v 

The  obedience  of  St.  Joseph  is  the  great  example  of 
obedience  proposed  to  us.  It  does  not,  of  course,  surpass 
the  obedience  of  Christ  and  of  Mary  to  Joseph  himself. 
But  it  is  an  obedience  of  which  the  Scriptures  give  us  the 
most  minute  details,  with  the  clear  purpose  that  we  should 
model  our  own  obedience  upon  it,  that  so  we  may  become 
like  to  Christ. 

The  perfect  copy  of  Christ  was  Mary,  but  the  perfect 
copy  of  both  was  Joseph.  Before  his  eyes  he  ever  held 
their  loving,  breathing  example.  Never  did  he  vary  from 
this  until  his  eyes  were  closed  forever  by  the  loving  touch 
of  the  Divine  Foster  Son  and  a  last  fervent  kiss  was  printed 
on  his  white  forehead  by  the  virgin  lips  of  Mary,  his  own 
immaculate  wife. 

The  path  of  his  life  had  been  one  straight  path  of  duty, 
such  as  we  all  have  to  tread,  with  thorns  and  flowers  along 
the  way.  The  thorns  were  many  and  long  and  sharp,  but 
the  flowers  in  turn  were  bright  and  sweet.  So  there  is  but 
one  task  for  each  and  all  of  us,  in  which  alone  our  happiness 
can  be  found,  and  that  is  to  do  most  perfectly  God’s  most 
loving  Will.  We  accomplish  this,  through  His  grace,  by  the 
virtue  of  obedience,  and  our  highest  motive  is  Divine  Love. 
In  all  this  Joseph  is  our  great  example.  Like  him  let  us 
never  fear  and  never  hesitate,  even  for  a  moment’s  space, 
to  do  that  most  tender  of  all  wills,  the  Divine  Will. 

St.  Joseph’s  obedience  was  most  blind,  unquestioning  and 
sublime.  Tried  by  Almighty  Cod  in  many  and  various  ways, 
it  shone  out  like  gold  in  the  furnace.  In  time  of  doubt  and 
hesitation  he  humbly  deliberated  with  God  in  prayer.  What 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


29 


..  - - -  i 

could  equal  that  first  great  trial  in  Mary’s  regard?  Yet 
through  it  all  the  Scriptures  can  give  him  the  sublime 
praise:  he  was  a  “just  man.”  His  resolution  was  formed 
with  equal  charity  to  Mary,  forgetfulness  of  himself  and 
complete  compliance  with  the  slightest  inplication  of  the 
Divine  law.  The  “just  man”  must  first  be  the  obedient  man. 

The  obedience  of  St.  Joseph  is  such,  as  has  been  well 
said,  that  it  is  the  perfect  echo  of  every  Divine  command. 
“Arise  and  take  the  child  and  his  Mother,  and  fly  into 
Egypt,”  is  the  order  given  by  God  through  His  angel  mes¬ 
senger,  and  the  echo  comes  back:  “Who  arose,  and  took  the 
child  and  his  mother  by  night  and  retired  into  Egypt.”  In 
Joseph’s  fulfilment  there  is  even  a  phrase  added  that  was 
not  literally  in  the  Divine  order — “by  night.”  That  little 
phrase  contains  in  itself  a  prieele  s  wealth  of  meaning.  It 
shows  not  merely  St.  Joseph’s  obedience,  but  his  prompt 
obedience.  There  is  no  moment’s  thought  or  delay.  The 
order  is  clear  and  the  fulfilment  of  it  is  both  perfect  and 
instant. 

It  is  therefore  this  flight  into  Egypt  which  for  all  time 
will  remain  the  example  by  which  even  saints  can  test  the 
perfection  of  their  obedience,  comparing  their  own  efforts 
with  the  qualities  St.  Joseph  displayed.  To  save  the  Son 
of  the  Infinite  God  from  the  hand  of  a  weak  human  king, 
he  was  to  take  “the  child  and  his  mother  and  fly  with  them 
into  Egypt.”  There  is  no  previous  notice,  no  time  for 
preparation.  The  goal  is  a  distant,  benighted,  pagan  land. 
There  were  Jews  settled  in  that  country,  it  is  true,  but  how 
could  he  find  the  way  to  them?  The  roads  were  surely  un¬ 
known  to  Joseph,  the  language  would  be  strange.  He  re¬ 
membered  how  even  his  own  people  had  closed  their  doors 
on  him  in  Bethlehem. 

And  then,  could  not  Almighty  God  have  foreseen,  or  pre¬ 
vented,  or  at  least  have  eased  and  simplified  this  terrible 
experience?  There  was  no  explanation  and  no  direction 
given  him — only :  “Arise,  and  take  the  child  and  his  mother, 
and  fly  into  Egypt :  and  be  there  until  I  shall  tell  thee.”  He 
did  not  mind  what  might  befall  himself,  but  think  of  the 
Mother  and  Child !  Yet  without  a  word,  without  a  question, 
he  flees  out  into  the  night,  and  trusts  to  God.  For  this 


30 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


reason  he  was  to  succeed  in  all  things,  even  where  failure 
seemed  most  evident.  His  life  was  one  great  success  in  the 
eyes  of  God. 

And  then  think  how  perfect  must  have  been  his  obedience 
to  every  slighest  inspiration  of  grace  that  he  might  be  able 
for  all  the  many  years  to  give  command,  in  meekness  and 
humility,  to  Mary  and  to  Christ.  Through  him  the  Eternal 
Father  spoke,  and  through  him  Mary’s  invisible  Spouse, 
the  Holy  Ghost,  perfectly  carried  out  His  Divine  designs. 
The  soul  of  Joseph  was  ever  alert,  responsive  to  the  least 
whispering  of  God,  obedient  in  the  slightest  as  in  the  great¬ 
est  things.  And  so  he  who  denied  God  nothing  cannot  now 
be  denied  by  God  in  anything,  nor  will  he  ever  ask  what 
could  be  opposed  to  the  Divine  Will — that  Will  in  whose 
fulfilment  all  our  greatness  and  our  happiness  must  forever 
consist. 

If  neither  God  the  Father  can  refuse  anything  to  him  who 
held  His  place  on  earth,  nor  the  Holy  Spirit  who,  as  St. 
Augustine  says,  was  the  conjugal  love  in  that  union 
between  Mary  and  Joseph,  what  can  the  Divine  Son  refuse 
him  whom  tie  beheld  only  under  the  sweet,  compelling  re¬ 
lationship  of  “father”.  For  the  paternity  of  Joseph,  as  the 
Fathers  and  Doctors  and  theologians  of  the  Church  so 
rightly  insist,  was  true  and  real — all  the  more  exalted  be¬ 
cause  purely  virginal. 

Nor  yet  will  the  prayer  of  Joseph  for  us  ascend  alone 
to  the  Triune  God  and  to  his  Foster-Son.  To  it  will  in¬ 
fallibly  be  added  the  mighty  intercession  of  Mary.  “Son, 
Thy  father  and  I  .  .  .  ”  Those  were  the  very  words  the 
Scripture  records  from  her  lips,  and  how  can  Christ  refuse 
her  now  when  with  those  selfsame  words  she  joins  her 
prayers  with  those  of  Joseph,  saying  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  Saviour’s  Throne :  “Son,  Thy  father  and  I  request ...” 

Surely  we  are  safe  in  Joseph’s  hands.  True  devotion  to 
him,  it  has  well  been  said,  cannot  but  be  a  pledge  of  eternal 
salvation,  because  it -always  must  imply  the  truest  and  ten- 
derest  devotion  to  Mary  and  to  Christ,  for  whom  alone  he 
lived  on  earth,  and  with  whom  he  is  now  inseparably  united 
in  the  glory  of  Heaven :  one  heart,  one  soul,  one  mind  with 
them.  Affectionately,  in  his  Hymn  to  St.  Joseph,  Faber 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


31 


expressed  the  pious  aspirations  of  the  Faithful  throughout 
the  world  when  he  wrote : 

There  are  many  saints  above 
Who  love  us  with  true  love, 

Many  angels  ever  nigh; 

But  Joseph,  none  there  be, 

O,  none  who  love  like  thee ! 

Dearest  of  Saints,  be  near  us  when  we  die! 

Thou  wert  guardian  of  Our  Lord, 

Foster-father  of  the  Word, 

Who  in  thine  arms  did  lie ; 

If  we  His  brothers  be, 

We  are  foster-sons  to  thee. 

Dearest  of  Saints,  be  near  us  when  we  die/ 

Thou  wert  Mary’s  earthly  guide, 

Forever  at  her  side, 

O,  for  her  sake,  hear  our  cry; 

For  we  follow  in  thy  way, 

Loving  Mary  as  we  may, 

Dearest  of  Saints,  be  near  us  when  we  die ! 

Thou  to  Mary’s  virgin  love 
Wert  the  image  of  the  Dove, 

Who  was  her  Spouse  on  high; 

Bring  us  gifts  from  Him,  dear  Saint, 

Bring  us  comfort  when  we  faint, 

Dearest  of  Saints,  be  near  us  when  we  die ! 

Thou  wert  a  shadow  thrown 
From  the  Father’s  summit  lone, 

Over  Mary’s  life  to  lie; 

O,  be  thy  shadow  cast 

O’er  our  present  and  our  past, 

Dearest  of  Saints,  be  near  us  when  we  die ! 

Sadly  o’er  the  desert  sand, 

Into  Egypt’s  darksome  land, 

As  an  exile  didst  thou  fly ; 

And  we  are  exiles,  too, 

With  a  world  to  travel  through,' 

Dearest  of  Saints,  be  near  us  when  we  die ! 


32 


YOUR  OWN  ST.  JOSEPH 


- — - - - i 

When  thy  gentle  years  were  run, 

On  the  bosom  of  thy  Son, 

Like  an  infant  didst  thou  lie': 

I  * 

O,  by  thy  happy  death, 

In  that  tranquil  Nazareth, 

Dearest  of  Saints,  be  near  us  when  we  die ! 

Devotion  to  St.  Joseph  is  most  fittingly  connected  with 
our  prayer  and  preparation  for  a  happy  death,  the  crown 
of  a  Christian  life.  The  death  of  Joseph  in  the  arms  of 
Jesus  and  Mary  has  inspired  Christian  art  with  some  of  its 
noblest  conceptions  as  it  has  aided  millions  of  Christians 
by  their  confidence  in  our  great  Saint,  to  perfect  themselves 
in  those  two  supreme  arts,  the  art  of  living  well  and  of 
dying  well. 

To  the  special  friends  of  St.  Joseph  every  Wednesday  of 
their  lives  is  a  red-letter  day.  With  each  revolving  week 
the  return  of  that  day,  dedicated  to  St.  Joseph,  brings 
renewed  confidence  and  joy.  Their  hearts  go  out  to  him  in 
affectionate  devotion  and  .  love  that  find  expression,  if  not 
always  in  lengthy  prayers,  yet,  at  least  in  the  filial 
uplifting  of  their  thoughts  to  him.  In  the  same  way,  too, 
the  Month  of  Joseph  is  dear  to  them  like  the  Month  of 
Mary,  and  the  Christmas  season,  or  the  Month  of  the  Sacred 
Heart,  and  there  are  countless  ways  in  which  they  can 
manifest  the  warmth  of  their  childlike  trust  in  him. 

Some  there  are  who  wear  the  Cincture  of  St.  Joseph, 
some  who  practise  the  Church’s  beautiful  and  indulgenced 
devotion  to  the  seven  sorrows  and  the  seven  joys  of  his  life. 
But  all,  whether  they  do  much  or  little,  know  that  their  de¬ 
votion  to  Joseph  is  devotion  to  Mary  and  to  Christ,  and 
evermore  leads  up  to  this.  It  is  not  confined  to  any  day  or 
month,  but  runs  through  all  their  lives,  in  constant  union 
with  devotion  to  Jesus  and  Mary.  Perfectly  and  fer¬ 
vently  this  threefold  affection  of  every  Catholic  heart  is 
summed  up  in  that  indulgenced  aspiration  which  the  Church 
places  upon  the  lips  of  all  her  children: 

Jesus,  Mary,  Joseph,  I  give  you  my  heart  and  my  soul ; 

Jesus,  Mary,  Joseph,  assist  me  at  the  hour  of  my  death; 

Jesus,  Mary,  Joseph,  may  I  die  in  your  sweet  embrace! 


Important  Pamphlets  by  the  Same  Author 


The  Sacred  Heart.  A  complete  exposition  of  this  devo¬ 
tion,  together  with  an  account  of  its  early  history  and 
of  the  revelations  to  Sts.  Mechtilde,  Gertrude  and  Mar¬ 
garet  Mary.  There  is  a  lucid  explanation  of  its  prac¬ 
tices  and  promises.  To  spread  this  pamphlet  is  an 
apostolate. 

The  Heart  of  the  Little  Flower.  A  revelation  of  the 
charm  and  beauty  of  this  favorite  of  God  and  man. 
Her  Little  Way  and  her  secrets  of  sanctity  are  here 
made  plain.  It  is  a  summary  of  her  spiritual  life.  The 
pamphlet  has  won  its  way  into  thousands  of  hearts. 

The  Christ  Child.  Dealing  with  the  prophecies  concern¬ 
ing  the  Christ  Child,  the  beauty  and  mysteries  of  His 
coming,  and  finally  presenting  Saint  Therese  in  the  de¬ 
lightful  role  of  Laureate  of  the  Divine  Child.  Inter¬ 
spersed  are  some  of  the  finest  Christ  Child  poems. 

The  Souls  in  Purgatory.  Setting  forth  the  entire  Cath¬ 
olic  doctrine  on  Purgatory,  giving  its  Scriptural  proofs 
and  other  reasons,  while  also  showing  the  modern 
Protestant  attitude.  Spiritism  and  indulgences  are 
treated  here,  and  the  best  means  of  helping  the  Poor 
Souls. 

God  and  Caesar.  This  pamphlet  clearly  defines  the  rela¬ 
tion  between  Church  and  State.  It  opens  with  a  brief 
history  touching  on  this  subject,  from  the  landing  of 
the  Pilgrims  to  the  Ku  Klux.  Important  chapters  are: 
“Is  the  Church  in  Politics?”  “Church  and  People,” 
“Church  and  State.” 


Price  Ten  Cents  Each.  $ 7  a  hundred 


THE  AMERICA  PRESS 
Grand  Central  Terminal,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


— 


A  Catholic  Review  of  the  Week 


Contributions  are  received  from  Catholic 
Authors  and  Correspondents,  members  of 


the  Clergy  and  Laity  in  all  parts  of  the 
world. 


AMERICA  is  a  General  Representa¬ 
tive  Organ,  built  up  every  week  by 
skilful  hands  in  every  region  of  the 
globe.  Bureaus  of  information  are 
established  in  all  leading  cities. 

Edited  by  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 

WILFRID  PARSONS,  Editor-in-chief 
Associate  Editors: 

JOSEPH  HUSSLEIN  FRANCIS  X.  TALBOT 

PAUL  L.  BLAKELY  PETER  M.  DUNNE 


10  Cents  a  Copy;  $4.00  a  Year 


Canada,  $4.50 


Elsewhere,  $5.00 


THE  AMERICA  PRESS 

Suite  4847,  Grand  Central  Terminal 
New  York,  N.  Y. 


